Hi, I installed ubuntu server on a mac mini late 2012, and I have now (as expected) a problem with the firmware for the Broadcom network adapter / wifi card.

I could install those firmware quite easily with the package firmware-b43-installer but I obviously cannot use apt to download and install this package.

Then I thought to manually download the package from another computer and install it manually in Ubuntu. I saved the .deb into a USB stick and tried to install it, but this package depends on other packages that are not installed on the machine.

Then I thought “ok, I’ll do the same for the dependencies and I will install the manually before install the firmware-b43-installer”.

The problem is, of course, that also those packages depends on something else.

I don’t think is a good idea to go down into the dependency hole and look manually for all the depndendencies of the dependencies… there is a more efficient way to do this? There is a way to download a package with its recursive dependencies?

Or somebody installed already Ubuntu (or a debian based distro) on a mac mini with Broadcom chip that can put me on the right direction?

Thanks a lot.

  • TschuuulsEnglish
    240·
    8 months ago8 months ago

    If you have an android phone, plug it into the macmini via usb, connect to wifi and enable usb tethering.

  • gnuhaut
    70·
    8 months ago

    Copying this package over USB will not work anyway, even if you get all the dependencies, since firmware-b43-installer is just a script that downloads the firmware (probably because it is illegal for Debian/Ubuntu to redistribute this firmware because of the license).

    You need internet. You’ll need to use a different network device for this, or use a phone as the other person said.

    Or you can copy the firmware files over by hand, from a different Ubuntu/Linux computer. They should be under /usr/lib/firmware/b43.

    • bizdelnick
      40·
      8 months ago8 months ago

      Here is a manual on how to obtain firmware without using the script.

  • JovialSodium
    50·
    8 months ago

    A quick search tells me that mac mini’s have ethernet. Are you able temporarily connect that way to fetch the wifi drivers?

    • hyperlink2236OP
      30·
      8 months ago

      Unfortunately also the ethernet connection wasn’t detected. I solved using my phone in USB tethering

  • planish
    30·
    8 months ago

    One approach here is the Ubuntu CD/DVD images. You can (could?) use the disk as a package source for apt to install from.

  • zongor [comrade/them, he/him]English
    10·
    8 months ago

    The Linux mint live installer comes with the bcmwl-kernel-source package which will allow you to install it. It worked on my 2013 MacBook Pro which uses a Broadcom chip

  • TCB13English
    12·
    8 months ago8 months ago

    deleted by creator

    • gnuhaut
      50·
      8 months ago8 months ago

      This is incorrect, that firmware is not included in the installer (for legal reasons, probably). firmware-b43-installer is just a script. It downloads some driver from a website and extracts the firmware blobs from that driver using another utility called b43-fwcutter. The package description for that reads:

      Description: utility for extracting Broadcom 43xx firmware

      This package provides a tool for extracting BCM43xx wireless chip firmware from Broadcom’s proprietary driver files.

      It is used by the firmware-b43(legacy)-installer packages as part of the automated process of downloading and installing firmware.